


i think we could do it (if we tried)

by nohomosam



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Childhood Friends, First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Holding Hands, M/M, One Shot, Slice of Life, tsukki is in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:54:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26869243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nohomosam/pseuds/nohomosam
Summary: Tsukishima thought that falling in love was loud. He thought it would happen suddenly, like in the movies - he would lock eyes with a girl and would see fireworks, would forget his own name.He realizes in his senior year of high school, that love is much more subtle.
Relationships: Tsukishima Kei/Yamaguchi Tadashi
Comments: 9
Kudos: 144





	i think we could do it (if we tried)

Tsukishima thought that falling in love was loud. He thought it would happen suddenly, like in the movies - he would lock eyes with a girl and would see fireworks, would forget his own name.

He realizes in his senior year of high school, that love is much more subtle.

He comes to this realization on a Thursday evening. Still warm from practice with Yamaguchi at his side, they made their way down the familiar hill. Hinata flew past them on his bike with Kageyama yelling obscenities at him, and Yamaguchi let out a loud laugh. As the sound echoed through the still evening air, Tsukishima found himself smiling. Not at his friends' immature antics, but at Yamaguchi's joy.

_Soulmates_. That's the word that comes to mind when he thinks of the other boy, after _beautiful_ and _talented_ and about a million other words. They met by chance, but not really; Tsukishima was hyper aware of the freckled boy in his class since the start of the 2nd grade. He didn't know why, but he was drawn to him and his soft voice, his overly kind words to those who oftentimes didn't deserve it. Tsukishima didn't think he deserved them, still doesn't, but he knew he would appreciate them more than their peers. Maybe Tsukishima related to the way Yamaguchi seemed to not belong to a group no matter how hard he tried, maybe he thought that they could talk about dinosaurs after he caught Yamaguchi reading his favorite picture book about the prehistoric monsters in the library. Maybe he was just lonely and recognized Yamaguchi's persistent kindness as a desperate attempt to find _someone_ to spend his time with. Since that day at the playground, the two of them have spent nearly all their time together.

On this particular evening, Tsukishima looked over at Yamaguchi, his eyes closed with a wide grin on his face and soft laughs leaving his mouth in white puffs and thought, _I love you_. He didn’t burst into flames, his world didn’t come crashing down around him at this revelation. His heart did skip a beat or two, but how could it _not_? And really, he wasn't that surprised. It's Yamaguchi after all, the same boy with soft hands and easy smiles, who smells like dryer sheets and springtime. The same boy has stuck by Tsukishima's side, even when he was rude and snarky for no reason. As Yamaguchi slowly composed himself, Tsukishima’s analytical brain begun running through his options:

1.) He could keep his feelings hidden away, locking away his heart in a box he's spent years perfecting to make sure it was never in danger of being busted open. Yamaguchi would find someone who would memorize every freckle, learn what each twitch of his face meant and that when he presses his fingertips together, he's trying to keep himself from spiraling in the anxiety he hasn't yet learned to control. Tsukishima would get over these feelings, and they would be each other's best man at their respective weddings. (Tsukishima ignores the way his heart sinks when he thinks of Yamaguchi with someone else).

2.) He could tell Yamaguchi how he feels, and Yamaguchi would say he feels the same way. They would laugh at all the times they quickly looked away, cheeks red, when they were caught staring at each other in class. They would reminisce on the sleepovers where they laid still like mummies, afraid to accidentally touch each other and somehow give away their true feelings. Their mothers would laugh at their wedding, and Hinata and Kageyama would tease them relentlessly.

3.) He could tell Yamaguchi how he feels, and Yamaguchi would turn away in disgust. Every memory would turn sour, and every touch would seem predatory with this new information. Yamaguchi would tell others to _stay away, he always expects more_. He would lose his one true friend, the person who he's spent every birthday with since he was 8. He would lose the one person who he felt comfortable enough to let his guard down. (He knew Yamaguchi was too kind to be this rude, but he would rather have this than the alternative; Yamaguchi acting like nothing happened.)

Tsukishima was ultimately left to choose the lesser of two evils. He didn't know if he could stomach seeing Yamaguchi together with someone other than himself, but he was terrified of losing him.

"Tsukki?"

Yamaguchi's soft tone snapped him out of his own thoughts, and he turned to see that Yamaguchi had stopped walking altogether. "What?" He asked, giving the other a confused look. Yamaguchi only exhaled softly, his warm breath turning into a white cloud in the cool evening air. "What are you thinking about?" He asked. Tsukishima knew it was pointless to lie. Yamaguchi knew Tsukishima as well as Tsukishima knew Yamaguchi, and lying would only make him more suspicious.

He looked down at the cracked pavement, his worn sneakers, and dropped the bomb.

"You." He said it more confidently than he expected. He looked back up at Yamaguchi, who had turned a pretty shade of pink. "Me?" He only laughed, which sent Tsukishima's heart sinking to his stomach. _Now or never_ , he thought. _Might as well rip the band aid off_.

"Yeah. You. I...I'm always sort of thinking of you." Yamaguchi's flush deepened, and Tsukishima gritted his teeth to keep himself from saying anything else. Yamaguchi was silent for a moment, and Tsukishima was about to speak up when he finally said, "Oh."

Oh? _Oh_? What kind of reaction was that?? Tsukishima was about to snap with _What the hell does that mean_ , when Yamaguchi took a few steps forward and closed the gap between them. They had been closer, but Tsukishima felt his body go still. He could nearly count the freckles on his pink cheeks. "I think about you, too." It was just above a whisper, but the words were loud in his head. Was this actually happening, or had Tsukishima died and gone to heaven?

As if hammering the final nail on the coffin, Yamaguchi reached up on his tiptoes, and pressed his lips to his.

Again, there were no fireworks. No swooping orchestra to play the song of his heart. Instead, their orchestra was the sound of crickets chirping to one another, the faint sound of a car turning onto the highway, a house door slamming shut. It caught him off guard, their teeth clinked together and their noses smashed together. They stayed like that for a few moments, then Yamaguchi pulled away. His face, a deeper shade of pink, refused to meet his. Tsukishima stared at Yamaguchi with his eyes wide and mouth slightly open, like a fish out of water. Yamaguchi was the first to break the silence. "I-I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, forget I did that." _Forget_? Tsukishima couldn't forget that if he tried. He didn't _want_ to forget. "I misread what you meant, and I thought that you maybe, _I don't know_." Yamaguchi was spiraling, and his face was getting redder by the second.

Tsukishima reached out and cupped Yamaguchi's pink cheeks in his hands. His palms were cold against Yamaguchi’s warm cheeks, but he didn’t flinch away. Tsukishima held his breath, leaned down, and connected their lips together again. This time, their teeth didn’t clink together, and Tsukishima’s nose brushed Yamaguchi’s cheek just slightly. Their lips slotted together, and he was practically on Cloud 9. He pulled away when he started to get light headed, and this time, Yamaguchi met his eyes.

“So,” Tsukishima breathed out. He rocked on his heels, and nodded towards their houses. As much as he would love to stay and make out with Yamaguchi under a streetlight, he had a few pages of homework that weighed his backpack down, and it was getting colder by the minute. “We should probably start walking again.” Yamaguchi smiled softly, and nodded in agreement. “Yeah,” he replied, his voice softer than normal. “Yeah, probably.” As they walked towards their houses, Tsukishima’s and Yamaguchi’s shoulders kept bumping into each other, sending electric shocks throughout his body. He felt like he was floating just above the cracked pavement, until Yamaguchi's hand slid into his own. His hand was a comfortable, familiar weight in his own, and it grounded him, calmed his nerves and reminded him that yes, that actually happened.

When they laced fingers, Tsukishima looked over to see that Yamaguchi was still blushing a deep shade of pink, and Tsukishima's lips tugged up in a smile. "You know," Tsukishima started. "Kageyama and Hinata are gonna lose their shit." Yamaguchi laughed and shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe. I don't think it's that weird, though." A pebble skitted in front of them after being kicked by the toe of Yamaguchi's shoe.

Yamaguchi squeezed Tsukishimia’s hand, and he squeezed back.

**Author's Note:**

> Hiya! This is my first Haikyuu fic, and I feel like it's fitting that it's Tsukkiyama since I've had Tsukkiyama brainrot ever since they were first introduced. Anyway, I hope y'all liked it! Huge shoutout to https://www.archiveofourown.org/users/aches/pseuds/aches for beta reading!!!
> 
> Stay safe and wear a mask <3


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